DRAPER, Utah -- A Davis School District bus driver was arrested Monday morning accused of driving under the influence of prescription drugs while taking students and parents on a field trip to Brigham Young University.
Police pulled 39-year-old Lycia Martinez over on Interstate 15 near 12300 South in Draper.
Not long before Utah Highway Patrol started tailing the school bus along I-15, they received a call from the people on board.
“We’re in a Davis District school bus, and we are concerned with our bus driver,” said the caller, a chaperone who dialed 911 from the bus. “She can’t stay in the lanes -- she’s crossing the double lines and the adults are getting scared.”
The call was one of many police received before they ultimately stopped the bus near 12300 South in Draper. They then arrested the driver after she allegedly failed field sobriety tests.
According to police, Martinez was believed to have been under the influence of prescription drugs for anxiety and pain, which did not come as a surprise to her family.
“Her husband begged her this morning if she didn’t feel good to stay home, and she went anyway,” said Martinez’s mother-in-law, Louella Craig.
On Monday morning, Craig claimed Martinez took medication for a sinus infection. However, that was just one of many prescription drugs Craig said Martinez has been abusing for years.
“She needs help, and she needs help now,” Craig said. “They take her to rehab and they just put her out in a week.”
In her six years working for the Davis School District, Martinez has never had any issues, according to district spokesman Chris Williams.
“If there wasn’t a clean record, then she wouldn’t be driving for us,” Williams said.
All drivers in the Davis School District get a drug screening before they’re hired, according to Williams, and they’re subject to at least one random testing a year. If a driver is taking prescription drugs, District policy requires they report it to their supervisor.
Martinez is facing charges for a class A misdemeanor count of DUI, as well as failing to operate within one lane.
She has been put on paid administrative leave by the school district, pending an investigation by police.
Was your child on the bus? We want to hear your story. Call (801) 536-1313 or email news@fox13now.com.
